


Universal Constant

by Corrie71



Category: McKirk - Fandom, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Academy Era, Bromance to Romance, Consequences of Mind-Meld, F/M, Fluffy Ending, Friends to Lovers, I Love You, Kissing, M/M, Post-Narada, Starfleet Academy, pre-STID
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-23
Updated: 2015-02-23
Packaged: 2018-03-14 18:42:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3421478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Corrie71/pseuds/Corrie71
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bones, Jim, Nyota, and Spock cope with the implications of Spock!Prime and Jim's mind-meld on Delta Vega....and Chris Pike plays matchmaker...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Universal Constant

“Meet me at the diner in ten minutes. Urgent.-NU” 

The comm message came in just as Bones was about to leave the research lab for the day so he loped over to the tiny diner at the edge of campus, wondering if Jim would be out of his hearings yet. His stomach rumbled reminding him that he’d forgotten to eat lunch. Again. 

He grabbed their favorite booth, in the back of the nearly empty diner. The fingerprint smeared windows reflected the neon decor. Bones tried not to remember how he’d used to have to wait for a table before Nero murdered most of his classmates and friends just over a month earlier. He ordered a burger and fries, because a salad just wasn’t going to cut it, and started on his peach milkshake before Nyota walked in, her lovely face streaked with tears. In a heartbeat, he was out of the booth, gathering her close. 

“Okay, sweetie, who do I need to go beat up?” She sat next to him in the booth and he wrapped his arm around her. She laid her head on his shoulder and sighed. While Jim had enjoyed a mutually beneficial arrangement with Gaila, he and Ny became close friends during their Academy years. Next to Jim, she was his best friend, like a sister to him. She was fierce and strong. Other than at the funerals, he’d never seen her cry. He waited, feeling helpless, as she struggled to control her sobs. 

“Spock broke up with me.” She shredded her napkin as he waited for her to explain. He might not have been all that fond of her boyfriend but he’d have bet that the Vulcan adored her, as much as possible. 

“Is this some dumb thing about him needing to mate with another Vulcan again?” She shook her head, her ponytail swinging. “Then why?”

“Because of Jim.”

“Jim Kirk?” Bones echoed stupidly, his heart sinking. She nodded, rubbing against his shoulder. “What does Jim have to do with this?”

She swiped at her face, smearing her makeup. His food arrived and she toyed with a french fry before looking up at him. “You know how we’re not supposed to talk about the mission and all? Well, when Jim was marooned…”

“I know about the mind-meld, Ny. Jim told me.”

“Did he tell you that…” Here she sniffled. He passed her a napkin. “Did he tell you that in the other universe…Spock and Jim were a couple?”

“Spock and Jim Kirk were a couple?” Bones parroted. He nearly laughed. Of all the beings in the universe to be in a romantic relationship, Spock and Jim made the least sense. “They might not hate each other’s guts as much as they once did but…Ny, can you even imagine that?”

“I can’t. But Spock can.”

“Wait…you mean Spock broke up with you to go after…Jim?” Nyota nodded, dropping her head to Bones’ shoulder again. 

“He said that Spock—the other Spock—said that the universe will try to right itself…that he and Jim are th’y’la…”

“Bonded?” Bones eyes widened. Temporal paradoxes gave him a headache. “And Spock—our Spock—wants to bond with our Jim?”

Nyota nodded. “He said he doesn’t really want to but…the universe will make him so…”

“How noble. Ny, don’t take this the wrong way, but…I’m not sure our Jim would go for that.” 

“He might not be able to resist it. He probably has some of the bleed over emotions from the mind-meld anyway…and Spock says it’s a start.”

“It’s a start?” 

* * *

Across town, at the medbay, Jim sat visiting with Chris Pike, reviewing the latest hearing he’d been in and strategizing how to get his ship when Spock dropped by. He stood stiffly by the end of Chris’ bed, making casual conversation, but his gaze kept returning to Jim. Jim fiddled with his PADD and tried not to notice the Vulcan’s utter weirdness. He swiped at his face, wondering if he had something on it. 

“I will take my leave, Captain.” 

“Okay, Spock.” Chris waved him off. Spock got to the door and turned back.

“And Jim, may I say how nice you look today?” 

“Uh…thanks…” Jim answered. Spock left and he looked back at Chris. “What the hell was that about?”

“Is he…flirting…with you?” Pike said, incredulity in his voice.

Jim shuddered. “I can’t even…why would you put that image in my brain? Ugh! He’s so weird.” 

“Well, if things with Leonard don’t work out…”

“It’s not like that, sir, and you know it.” Jim sighed. They’d had this conversation many times before, Chris always attempting to play matchmaker. 

“Jim, the man snuck you aboard a starship. If you were looking for a sign…that was it!”

“We’re friends, sir.”

“You put on that Jim and Bones production number on my bridge, remember? I’ve seen you two dance around each other for three years. What are you waiting for, Jim? This last month wasn’t enough to convince you that you can’t wait forever?”

“Bones is still pretty bitter from the divorce and…” Jim shrugged, fiddling with his PADD, not wanting to meet Chris’ all too perceptive gaze.

“You faced down a crazed Romulan but you can’t ask your best friend to dinner? You want my advice?”

“No.”

“Grab that man and kiss him before someone else does. Dismissed.”

* * *

Jim arrived home to an empty apartment. He changed clothes and was just tying his sneakers to head over to the lab to drag Bones out for dinner when the door whooshed open and he walked in. 

“Hey, man, I’m starving. Let’s go grab dinner.”

“I already ate with Nyota.” Bones hung up his jacket and placed his shoes carefully on the rack near the front door. Jim glanced around. Maybe he should be more tidy. 

“Will you come sit with me while I eat?” Jim asked and then glanced at Bones. He sat in his desk chair, just staring at his empty desk. “You ok?”

“Nyota and Spock broke up…had you heard?”

“No, but he came by to see Chris Pike and I thought he was acting strange. Uhura’s single, huh?”

“Jim, she’s never going to go out with you.” Jim laughed. He liked Nyota a lot but…well, he hadn’t been really interested in dating her since he met a certain grumpy doctor on the shuttle. “Why didn’t you tell me about…you and Spock?”

“What about me and Spock?” 

“In the original universe, you and Spock were bonded.”

“Not me and Spock. The other Jim…and his Spock are… were together. I think something bad happened at the end but the older Spock didn’t share that with me. But that’s not me. That’s not our Spock. I didn’t tell you because it didn’t seem relevant. I mean, here…Spock and Uhura are an item and…”

“And what?” Bones tilted his head and looked at him. His eyes are green today, Jim noted. One of his favorite pastimes was cataloguing the colors in Bones’ amazing eyes.

“And I’m not interested in Spock. Not like that anyway.” Jim paused to consider it and shuddered. He stood and strode into the kitchen. He made a sandwich and grabbed a beer before heading back to the sofa. “In the other—not the original, by the way, just other— I knew my dad. He saw me become Captain of the Enterprise. There are lots of differences.”

“Like what?”

Jim considered for a moment. “Like here’s one—when the mind meld happened, it’s like flashes of emotions and pictures. It took me a bit to make sense out of them. But, in that other universe, you have blue eyes. You only sort of look like you do now and you were much older. But, the second I saw you, in the older Spock’s mind, I recognized you.”

“How?”

“It’s weird, like mystical mumbo-jumbo soulmate stuff. But I saw that Leonard McCoy’s face and pretty blue eyes and knew he was the same as you, with your gorgeous hazel eyes. And I just knew that was their Bones and also, at the same time, that he wasn’t my Bones.”

“And us—you said we met later, that we weren’t friends at the Academy…”

“Yeah, we met serving aboard the Enterprise, instead of the shuttle from Riverside. We were about ten years older than we are now, I think. I’m not even sure that other Doctor McCoy went to the Academy.” Jim shrugged. He ate, sipping his beer, and Bones joined him on the sofa, still chewing on his lip.

“Maybe the differences are superficial and the universe will try to knit itself back together.” Bones ventured finally.

“Bones, you’re a doctor, a scientist. You can’t tell me that you believe in destiny, the universe knitting itself back together, all that mumbo-jumbo, voodoo crap. What’s next, reading your horoscope every day?” Jim tossed the rest of his sandwich onto his plate and put down his beer bottle. He thought of Chris Pike’s advice earlier that day. He clasped Bones’ hand. “Though I did read once that Virgos and Capricorns are good matches. I’m a Capricorn, myself. And you’re a Virgo.”

Bones rolled his eyes but wrapped his fingers around Jim’s hand, causing Jim’s heartbeat to kick up a notch. “But Jim, Spock—the older one—says that the universe will try to right itself, that…the bond between that Spock and his Jim will reassert itself here. That’s why he broke up with Nyota.”

“To try to get with me? That’s not happening.” Jim shook his head, horrified at the very thought. “We’ll have to get them back together.”

“What if he’s right?”

“Spock—the older Spock—is basing that on a flawed theory of a universal constant. He doesn’t know that his universe is the original one, the one all the others are based on. He just wants it to be so. Maybe in those other universes, I’m a woman. Maybe we both are…” Jim’s eyes glazed over as he imagined that. Bones shook their clasped hands and Jim refocused on him. “Maybe we hate each other’s guts. There are all kinds of maybes and what ifs…But, here, in this universe…” Jim drew a deep breath, thinking of Chris Pike’s advice. “In this universe, I’m in love with you.”

“With me?” Bones blinked at him, astonishment clear in his voice.

“Did you really never see it?” Jim leaned over and kissed him then, a brief, possessive kiss. “I don’t believe in destiny or that we follow a pre-set path. I make my own decisions in life. I do, however, believe in soul mates because I belong to you and you are mine. And you…you are my choice, now and forever.” 

“And you’re mine.” Bones whispered before kissing him back.

**Author's Note:**

> In November, I got an interesting comment from "MJ" on _Paint the Stars_ discussing the consequences of the mind-meld between AOS!Jim and Spock!Prime on Delta Vega. This story was my first attempt at exploring the issues that might arise from it. 
> 
> As always, many thanks to my beta and brainstorming buddy, WeWillSpockYou.


End file.
